Honeycomb core structural members such as panels and the like generally comprise two rigid outer skin members, often formed of metal sheet, bonded to opposite surfaces of a core. The core comprises rigid walls forming a number of compartments or cells between the outer skin members. The cells often resemble a honeycomb structure. Honeycomb core panels having large bending loads have been formed using the high moment of inertia afforded by the separation of the panels' outer skin members. Under bending loads, the relatively light weight core maintains the outer skin member spacing and carries relatively small shear stresses while the outer skin members bear the relatively large tensile and compressive stresses. The honeycomb core structural members therefore concentrate material where stresses are high and minimize material where the stresses are low, thus yielding a very high specific stiffness. This high specific stiffness renders the honeycomb core structural members particularly advantageous for use in applications that require both low weight and high stiffness constraints. Many uses for honeycomb core panels and other honeycomb structural members have been in transportation, particularly aerospace applications, and in other environments where there is an economic premium in weight reduction.
The use of honeycomb core structural members in various additional applications has been limited by the high cost of the honeycomb core structural member formation. That is, it is difficult to form the honeycomb core structural members into formed articles without damaging the structural member once the core is bonded to the outer skin members. Accordingly, many honeycomb core structural members must be custom made in batch processes in order to meet final design criteria. While continuous processing reduces the costs of manufacturing honeycomb core structural members, continuous processing limits the utility of the members to applications where no post forming of the structural members into shaped articles is required.
Thus, a need exists for honeycomb core structural members which may be formed to meet various shaped article design criteria and which may also be formed in a continuous processing method.